A practical application for the detection and imaging of ultrasonic energy is to locate, by inference, ultrasonic energy sources. Such sources may be, for instance, a gas or fluid escaping from a pressurized container (in other words, a leak). Alternatively, ultrasonic energy may be caused by a mechanical vibration, such as that caused by an excessively-worn bearing or by missing teeth on a gear drive assembly.
Piezoelectric and other detectors are known for detecting ultrasonic energy emissions. Known systems and methods utilizing such detectors have many disadvantages, however. For instance, because of the signal frequencies involved, known systems may utilize very high-speed sampling rates that increase the expense of data acquisition hardware. Furthermore, known detection systems do not provide user-friendly outputs. For example, such systems may not support imaging at all. And known systems that do provide imaging of the ultrasonic energy may not sufficiently relate the detected source of ultrasonic energy to the surrounding environment in a way that allows for a targeted response to the detection event. Moreover, known detection systems and methods may be limited to a narrow Field-Of-View (FOV) without a structured way to fully screen a Unit Under Test (UUT) that occupies an area that is many times the size of the detector's FOV. Known hand-held detection systems and methods are exemplary of this latter problem, relying on an operator to wave the hand-held detection system with respect to the UUT in an effort to provide an effective screen.
What is needed are systems and methods for detecting ultrasonic energy that reduce the cost of data acquisition, provide more useful outputs to a test operator, and enable more complete and repeatable ultrasonic energy detection over a broad target area.